PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN TURKEY.
Early History--Opposition of Ecclesiastics in the Oriental
Churches--Attitude of the Turkish Government--Work Among
Moslems--Development of Education--Societies at Work--The
American Board--Presbyterian Boards--American and British Bible
Societies--English Societies--General Statistics--Relations to the
Turkish Government--Character of the Missionaries.
No statement of Turkey is complete without an account of the rise
and development of Protestant mission work. The first effort of this
kind in modern times was put forth by the British and Foreign Bible
Society. Soon after its organization in 1804 colporteurs were sent
inland from Smyrna, and subsequent missionaries found to a considerable
degree traces of their work. There was also an attempt on the part of
English societies to reach the country from Malta, but there was no
organized effort until that of the missionaries of the American Board,
at that time representing the Congregational, Presbyterian and Reformed
Churches of the United States. In 1819 two missionaries left Boston
appointed to work in Palestine. They stopped at Malta and conferred
with the representatives of the Church Missionary and London Missionary
Societies of England, and then went to Smyrna. It did not take long for
them to realize that there was little opportunity for successful work
in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and they turned their attention to the
Oriental Churches with which they came in contact. They were joined
during the following years by a number of others, and aside from Smyrna
there were stations occupied at Beirut and at Constantinople; this last
in 1832.
Without entering into any detailed account of the occupation of the
different cities by individual missionaries, a general statement as to
their relations to the different races and religions and the progress
of their influence among them will furnish what is most essential for
the present purpose. This may be done under two heads; the Oriental
Churches, and Moslems. The work among the Jews has been carried on
to a limited degree chiefly by Scotch Presbyterians and members of
the Church of England, but it has not been of such general success
as to materially affect the empire. Other work has entered into the
development of the empire in a most noticeable degree.
We take up first work among the Oriental Churches. These include the
Armenian, Greek, Bulgarian, Jacobite, Nestorian, Chaldean and Maronite.
For the general statement of these see a preceding chapter. It is
sufficient here to speak of the relations that Protestant missions have
held towards them all. The first missionaries entered upon their work
with no thought whatever of proselyting. They recognized the essential
Christian character of the churches, and their object was to set before
them not a new creed or a different form of church government, but
simply a higher conception of what constituted Christian life. They
found almost absolute ignorance of the Bible; complete domination by
an ignorant and superstitious hierarchy, and a general feeling that
their church life was so thoroughly identified with national life that
to leave the church was to leave the nation, and that every heretic
was also a traitor. Combined with all of these was the peculiar civil
organization by which the ecclesiastics were the practical rulers in
every community and were enabled to exercise a pressure, the extent
and severity of which it is almost impossible for us to understand
at this time. Excommunication from the church meant far more than
ecclesiastical disability; it involved the absolute loss of any civil
status. An Armenian or a Greek who incurred the hostility of his bishop
and was placed under the ban had no rights that any one was bound to
respect. He could neither be baptized nor be buried; he could neither
marry nor purchase; no baker would furnish him with bread and no
butcher with meat; no one would employ him and no court recognized his
existence so as to give him the most ordinary protection.
The full extent of this situation did not appear at first. The early
missionaries sought merely to explain the Bible doctrine of a purer,
truer life dependent upon the atoning work of Christ. As always, they
met with some who seemed to be looking for just such truth, and not a
few welcomed very gladly the teaching. The moment this became apparent,
however, the priests began to realize that their power was in danger.
Undoubtedly in some cases their hostility was perfectly sincere. They
really thought that it was dangerous for these people to read the
Bible for themselves. Fortified by the traditions and education of
centuries they felt that the complete acceptance of certain formulas
was absolutely essential to eternal life. There were others, however,
who feared far more the loss of political influence. There was just
beginning to dawn upon Western Asia the light of European civilization.
Its influence was felt on every hand, as yet very vaguely in most
cases, but perhaps all the more forcibly. The Greeks and Armenians
had been trained to look upon the Western churches as heretics or at
least schismatics. The remembrance of the strife that preceded the
final break between the Roman Catholic and the Greek Churches has been
handed down until the bitterness of hostility which rules is scarcely
conceivable. The predominant feeling was that whatever of weakness or
of poverty there was, was due entirely to the tyranny of the Turkish
Government which had held them in thrall for nearly four centuries.
They saw that government perceptibly changing. Mahmud II was manifestly
recognizing that old-time methods were incompatible with the changing
situation, and was introducing customs which to the traditional Turk
savored of revolution if not of denial of the faith.
The ecclesiastics of the Christian churches in a certain dim way
probably thought that if at this time they could hold their own
positively, and even aggressively, there would come to them a share of
the improvement all expected in the future. It is therefore from every
standpoint scarcely surprising that they failed to recognize the true
character of the work commenced among them by these representatives of
a, to them, despised church. The strife that followed was exceedingly
bitter. On the one hand there was the all-engrossing power of the
hierarchy, on the other the irresistible force which the reception of
new ideas in an old established community always betrays. Persecution
merely fanned the flame of eager desire to learn what it was that so
aroused the ire of the priests, whose power indeed had been recognized,
but who, in the degenerate condition of the church, had largely lost
their personal influence over the people. Man after man, women even,
came, openly at times, usually secretly, to the homes of missionaries,
not themselves with any thought of leaving the old church, simply
anxious to understand more perfectly what they had been taught from
childhood. Over both, watching with a curious and somewhat nonchalant
eye, was the Turkish Government. It cared not a straw what particular
form of worship the “infidel dogs” preferred. On the whole its officers
were rather pleased at the newly offered opportunity for carrying out
their traditional policy of ruling through the disunion of either their
subjects, their allies, or their enemies.
It was not long before matters came to a crisis. The priests issued
their bulls of excommunication and those thus excommunicated naturally
came to the missionaries for assistance. They were indeed in a
pitiable condition, some of them persons of wealth and education, all
of intellectual ability, and keenly sensitive to the charges brought
against them. Common humanity compelled the missionaries to interest
themselves in their welfare, and they appealed to the representatives
of the Protestant Powers at Constantinople. They in turn carried the
matter before the Turkish Government, and the Turkish Government in its
semi-lordly, semi-contemptuous way, reached out a hand of protection
to the unfortunate objects of ecclesiastical persecution. They
granted a quasi-civil organization to these Evangelical or Protestant
Armenians, as they were called, and recognized them as a distinct
body, notwithstanding the bitter opposition of the Armenian and Greek
Patriarchs. They, however took care not to give this new body so much
of power, or rather so much of prestige, as to materially affect the
standing of the older communities. They used it as a foil to ward
off dangers which they conceived might come rather than as a means
of doing justice to a portion of their subjects. One instance will
furnish an illustration of the situation. One of the honored members of
the Evangelical community died. The question arose where he should be
buried. To bury him in the regular Armenian burying-ground, consecrated
by the bishops, was out of the question. The Turkish Government granted
a separate plot, but the Armenians were bound that he should not be
buried at all. Every effort was made to preserve secrecy. The time
of the service became known and a great mob collected. The Turkish
Government was appealed to and the military was drawn out. And this
simple Evangelical Armenian was buried amid a pomp of military display
and a manifestation of racial and ecclesiastical hatred which was a fit
symbol of the conflict that was to signalize the whole century.
If special description is given of the work among the Armenians, it is
merely because they attracted the most of public attention. There were
missionaries who sought to reach the Greeks, but their efforts met with
very little of success. Their national and ecclesiastical pride was
too strong, and their nearer relations to Western life made the new
teaching appear less attractive than to those to whom it was in great
degree a revelation. In Syria also a work had been commenced, chiefly
among the Maronites of Mount Lebanon, and carried to a great degree of
success, so also among the Nestorians and Jacobites of Eastern Turkey
and the mountains along the Persian border. It was among the Armenians,
however, that the greatest efforts were put forth and the greatest
success achieved. The general methods of work were the same with all
and whatever was done for one race was done with varying degrees of
success for all the Christian peoples of the empire.
Of work among the Moslems there has been very little. Various attempts
have been made to reach them with special work, but aside from the
experiments of the Reformed Church in America at Busrah and the Free
Church of Scotland at Sheikh Othman in Arabia, all have failed. There
have been several converts from Mohammedanism in different parts of the
empire, especially in Egypt, but no general movement. Large numbers of
Bibles in Turkish and Arabic are bought by Moslems and it is evident
that there are a number who would accept Christianity, but for the fact
that the penalty is absolute loss of property, if not of life. So long
as the Turkish Government holds absolute power it cannot be expected
that much impression will be made on the Moslem population.
Within twenty-five years after the establishment of the work at
Constantinople, the mission influences had spread throughout the
empire. There were missionaries at Trebizond, Erzrum, Diabekir, Aintab,
Brusa and Sivas. There were also smaller communities in the different
villages within reach of these central stations and the Evangelicals or
Protestant Armenians had come to be recognized on every hand as a power
in the land. With the practical victory of Turkey and her allies over
Russia and the promulgation of the treaty of Paris referred to above,
there came increasing demand upon the Christian powers for recognition
and protection of those who accepted the Evangelical ideas and forms.
The Hatti Humayoun was issued, the charter of religious liberty. With
this commenced in a certain sense a new phase of missionary work.
Hitherto it had been almost entirely evangelistic. The effort had been
to reach the consciences of the people and set before them the Gospel
demand for a pure and true life. There was comparatively little of
general education. With the growth, however, of the communities and
the recognition of the fact that a community life was before them such
as had neither been expected nor planned, it became evident to all
that emphasis must be placed upon those same principles of community
development which had done so much for England and America. It was not
sufficient to put the Bible into men’s hands nor to develop within them
the idea of their relation to God. They must learn to interpret the
Bible and apply it to their daily life; must learn the principles that
governed social and civil organizations. Hence education in its broader
sense became essential.
Education in the primary sense had always been carried on by the
missionaries. A certain amount was needed in order to enable the people
to read, for there was widespread ignorance in that respect. It was
essential in some degree for those who were under training to be the
spiritual guides of their people. Now it became evident that something
more was necessary. At first there was considerable difference of
opinion. Many of the missionaries themselves felt that they were
simply heralds of spiritual truth. They could not admit that they had
anything to do with secular education. Others realized that secular
education has a fundamentally important place in the development of
national life; that it is essential that that should be under religious
influence if the general life is to be in accord with true religious
development. Moreover the demand for this was increasing. Young men of
intellectual attainments sought instruction. They found opening before
them a constantly widening sphere of thought and of investigation which
they must enter. They would rather enter it under the lead of Christian
thought, but enter it they would, and if the missionaries refused their
counsel they would go to what were then almost purely infidel schools
in Europe. Thus there was started, in minor form at first, afterwards
more fully developed, a system of education that has grown until,
taking into consideration the obstacles and perplexities attending it,
it is surpassed in its widespread and high influence by no educational
system even in far more favored lands.
As in regard to the spread of the Evangelistic work, so here it is not
the purpose to describe in detail the growth of this school system. It
is sufficient to say that five years later, in 1861, Robert College
was started on the shores of the Bosporus by one who had been from the
very beginning an earnest supporter of the idea that evangelism and
education must go hand in hand if there is to be any Christian national
life. He had had experience in the work of training preachers, and he
realized that preachers need preparatory instruction. The story of
the years during which he battled the influence of Armenian and Greek
priests, of Papal representatives, and even of French and Russian
ambassadors, is one of the most interesting on record. Robert College
was followed within two years by the Syrian Protestant College of
Beirut. Then commenced the development of the primary, intermediate
and higher schools that had already been formed throughout the empire
into larger institutions, until there are to-day in the Turkish Empire
seven colleges all under Christian influence, though not all directly
connected with missionary enterprise. There are also hospitals,
orphanages and a variety of institutions which owe their inception to
the influence of the missions, even in cases where they are entirely
under native control.
A general survey of missions in the Turkish Empire at the present time
shows that there are the following societies at work:
From this country there are the American Board, representing the
Congregational Churches; the Boards of Missions of the Presbyterian
Church (North), the United Presbyterian Church, the Reformed
Presbyterian Church (Covenanter), and the Reformed (Dutch) Church; the
Foreign Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples of Christ; the
American Bible Society, and several independent workers connected with
other organizations. There are also a number of English societies;
the Church Missionary Society, the Presbyterian Board of Ireland, the
Free and Established Churches of Scotland, the British and Foreign
Bible Society, and several societies for special work among the Jews.
The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church has work in
Bulgaria, which, however, hardly comes under review as a part of the
Turkish Empire.
Of all these the largest work is that done by the American Board.
It covers the whole of Asia Minor and Eastern Turkey together with
Macedonia and a portion of Bulgaria. The latest statistics show that
there are 176 American missionaries, including 56 ordained ministers
and 68 unmarried women, most of them engaged in teaching. There are
also 869 native laborers, including 100 ordained ministers and 128
other preachers, the remainder being chiefly teachers. They occupy 19
principal stations and have work in 306 important out-stations. (The
term out-station is given to a town or city where there are preaching
services and educational work and sometimes a missionary resident, but
not the full organization of a mission station.) These are all divided
into four missions, called: The European Turkey Mission, covering
Macedonia and Bulgaria; the Western Turkey Mission, covering Western
Asia Minor; the Eastern Turkey Mission, covering Eastern Turkey; and
the Central Turkey Mission, covering Northern Syria south of the Taurus
Mountains. Constantinople is the general headquarters for all four
missions, and has a large staff of missionaries engaged in the general
conduct of the work, the preparation of literature and evangelistic
work to a limited degree. The important stations aside from this are
as follows: In the European Turkey Mission, Samakov and Philippopolis
in Bulgaria, and Salonica and Monastir in Macedonia; Western Turkey
Mission: Brusa, Smyrna, Marsovan, Cesarea, Sivas and Trebizond, this
last being associated with this mission because of easy access by sea;
Eastern Turkey Mission: Erzrum, Harput, Bitlis, Van and Mardin; Central
Turkey Mission: Aintab, Marash, Adana and Hajin. Aside from these
there are many important cities occupied, such as Nicomedia, on the
gulf of that name; Angora, Yuzgat, Amasia, Tokat, in Western Turkey;
Arabkir, Malatia, Palu, Diarbekir, in Eastern Turkey; Urfa, Birejik,
Albistan and Tarsus, in Central Turkey. The city of Aleppo, just south
of Aintab, has been occupied at times by the American Board, but the
language being Arabic, association with the work at Aintab has been
somewhat difficult, and hence it has not been developed.
In all of this great field the chief work has been carried on in Europe
among the Bulgarians, and in Asia among the Armenians, though from the
city of Mardin considerable work has been done among the Jacobites of
Northern Mesopotamia. The result of this work is seen in the following
statements:
In European Turkey the number of places for stated preaching is
42; the average congregations number 2,278; the number of organized
churches is 14, and of church members 952, while 2,713 are ordinarily
classed as belonging to the Evangelical community. There is one
theological school with 8 students; one training school for boys
with 65 students; two boarding schools for girls with 92 pupils,
while there are 17 common schools with 450 pupils. In this field the
Bulgarian Government has established an excellent system of schools,
so that the missionaries have not been compelled to do as much work
in that line. There are also a large number of Bulgarian students
in Robert College at Constantinople. In Western Turkey the result
of these years shows 122 places for stated preaching, with average
congregations of 10,336; 35 organized churches with a membership of
3,604 and a Protestant community numbering over 14,000. There is a
theological seminary with 6 pupils; schools for higher education with
528 boys and 686 girls, while there are 122 common schools with a
membership of 5,027. These figures do not include Robert College at
Constantinople, which is on an entirely independent basis, and has a
staff of 21 professors and instructors and about 200 students. They
do, however, include the American College for Girls in Constantinople
with its 23 teachers and 161 pupils. In Eastern Turkey there are 111
places for stated preaching, with average congregations of 11,639;
42 churches with a membership of 3,107 and a Protestant community of
nearly 17,000. The two theological classes have been seriously broken
up by the disturbances, but only a short time ago had 11 members. There
are 364 boys and 220 girls in schools for higher education, and 6,232
pupils in the 130 common schools. In Central Turkey there are 52 places
for stated preaching with an average congregation of over 10,000; 34
churches with a membership of 5,124, a Protestant community of 15,374,
a theological class of 9 students, and the pupils in the schools
for higher education number 321 boys and 300 girls; while in the 98
common schools there are 4,326 pupils. These statistics, however, give
but a very partial conception of the work done. As has already been
intimated, the schools established by the missionaries have been in
many cases duplicated by the Gregorian Armenians themselves, and the
influences that have gone forth from these preaching places have been
most effective in raising the general tone of community life throughout
the empire. In many places the preaching in the Gregorian churches is
of a most thoroughly evangelical type. There are Bible classes formed
in many places and the general spiritual as well as moral effect of the
mission work is by no means to be gauged by the figures of statistics.
One of the most important branches of work carried on by the American
Board is that of furnishing literature for the people. There are
conducted in Constantinople four weeklies and four monthlies, in the
Bulgarian, Armenian and Turkish languages, there being two Turkish
papers, one printed in Armenian characters for those Armenians who
use chiefly the Turkish language, and one in Greek characters for the
Greeks who also use the Turkish language. Aside from these there are
school books and books of general character, predominantly religious,
though also scientific and literary, issued by the committee of the
mission from the Bible House in Constantinople. There is also not a
little medical work carried on. There are medical missionaries in
several of the interior stations, especially Cesarea, Van and Mardin.
The fact that a large number of Armenians have studied medicine in this
country and have returned has lessened the demand for American medical
missionaries. At Aintab there is a hospital under the care of Americans
connected with the Aintab College, but not under the immediate control
of the mission.
The Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church (North) occupies
Syria and Mesopotamia. In Syria there are 14 ordained missionaries,
2 medical missionaries, including one woman, and 9 unmarried lady
missionaries, making the total American force 39. There are 6 native
pastors, 26 organized churches with a membership of 2,048. In the
Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, which is in harmony with, though
not under the direct control of the mission, there are 266 pupils;
there are also boarding schools for boys with 213 pupils and for
girls with 270 pupils; 8 high schools with 478 pupils, and 130 common
schools with 6,387 pupils. The stations occupied are Beirut, Abieh
on Mount Lebanon, Tripoli and Sidon on the seacoast, and Zahleh on
the eastern coast of Mount Lebanon. The work of this mission has been
chiefly among the Maronites, though to some degree among the other
races. The influence of the mission, however, is by no means to be
measured by its size. It was here in Beirut that the Arabic version
of the Scriptures was prepared, the foundation being laid by Dr. Eli
Smith, and the completion being under the guidance of Dr. C. V. A. Van
Dyck, both men famous as among the finest orientalists in the world.
The version prepared by them is unsurpassed by versions of the Bible
anywhere, and has perhaps the widest use of any except the English. It
is in the vernacular not only of Syria and Arabia, but of Northern and
Central Africa; is used with facility in India, China and Malaysia, and
everywhere where the Arabic language has spread. Its influence for good
cannot be measured. The same should be said of the college, with its
medical as well as academical department. Its graduates are found all
over the East.
The Mesopotamia mission of this Board has its headquarters at Mosul.
This was formerly occupied by the American Board, but because of its
close connection with the Western Persia mission of the Presbyterian
Board it was passed over to that Board. The work is chiefly among the
Nestorians of the mountains and to a degree among the Jacobites and
Chaldeans of the city itself. It has schools for boys and girls fully
attended in the city itself, and Syriac village schools in the field.
During the past year (1895), owing to the disturbance in the mountains,
there has been much difficulty in securing full attendance.
The mission of the United Presbyterian Board of this country is located
in Egypt and shows a very marked degree of success. The principal
stations occupied are Alexandria, Cairo, Mansurieh, Fayum and Osiut.
At the latter place there is a large and successful college with a
department for girls. The work of the mission is among the Copts,
though, there has been something accomplished among the Moslems.
The mission of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Church is located
in Northern Syria and occupies the stations of Latakia and Mersine.
There are six missionaries in the different stations, including two
physicians. Their work is chiefly educational among the Nusairyieh, the
evangelistic work among that class of people being extremely difficult.
The Board of Missions of the Reformed (Dutch) Church is carrying
on an interesting work in Arabia. It was started as an independent
enterprise, but more lately has been taken up by the Board. Its
headquarters are at Busrah on the Persian Gulf, but it extends all
along the coast, working solely among the Arabs. The mission staff is
still very small, and the establishment of schools has not yet been
effected.
The Disciples of Christ have a few missionaries, all Armenians who
have become naturalized Americans, in Constantinople and vicinity, and
at some stations in the interior. The same is true of some Baptist
work carried on chiefly by the same class of workers and supported by
independent organizations in this country.
The work of the American Bible Society covers the whole empire. There
are two agents resident in Constantinople with sub-agents in Beirut and
Alexandria. A large staff of colporteurs is employed, numbering during
the past year over 100, some of them directly under the control of the
agency, others under the supervision of missions and assisted by the
agency. The agency does most of its own publishing, including printing
and binding, in the Bible House at Constantinople and at the mission
press of the Presbyterian Board in Beirut. The languages are: Turkish
in the Arabic, Armenian and Greek characters; Armenian both ancient and
modern, Bulgarian, Kurdish and Arabic. It also purchases Scriptures
in other languages from the British and Foreign Bible Society, which
has an agency also in the same places. The total distributions during
the year 1894 from the depots at Constantinople and Beirut, were
52,895 in 32 different languages and dialects, including most of the
European as well as the different Oriental languages. Of this total
8,674 were Bibles, 13,826 New Testaments and 30,395 were portions.
By the direct agency of the society through the colporteurs and in
their depots, the total distribution was 31,678, while 21,107 were
through correspondents, the largest number being in Egypt, 14,258.
It is interesting to note that of the sales from the Syrian depot 6
Bibles went to Zanzibar on the west coast of Africa, and 51 Bibles and
500 Testaments to Tangiers in Africa. The total issues for 37 years
amounted to 1,376,798, and of the distribution for the past year it is
estimated that 12,000 at least went to non-Christian nationalities.
Of the English societies, the Church Missionary Society of England
occupies a few stations in Syria and Palestine, the principal ones
being Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza and Nablus. There are also a number
of out-stations. The missionaries number 11 ordained clergy, 4 lay
workers and 20 women. The native clergy number 9 ordained and 71 lay
workers. The total number of communicants is about 500. There are also
42 schools; seminaries with 1,752 students. Medical work is carried
on to a considerable extent, there being 284 in-patients and 32,810
out-patients under the care of the physicians. The work is among Jews
and also among the Maronites. There is more work accomplished by this
society than by others among the Moslems.
The Scotch missions have stations at Constantinople, Smyrna and
different points in Syria and Palestine. Their work is chiefly
educational and almost entirely confined to the Jews. There are some
very fine schools in Syria carried on under different organizations,
English and Scotch, intended primarily for the education of girls. They
have accomplished an excellent work.
The British and Foreign Bible Society conducts its work on much the
same general plan as the American Bible Society, but confines its
efforts more to the coast. Its chief work is in Bulgaria, among the
Greek islands and along the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. It has also
agencies in Syria and Egypt. Arrangements are made between the two
Bible societies so that they shall not crowd or interfere with each
other. The Turkish agency reports a circulation of 31,548; the Egypt
agency of 15,191; Syria and Palestine 4,741, making a total of 51,480,
which with the circulation of the American Bible Society makes a grand
total of about 104,000 copies.
This survey of missions in the Turkish Empire is necessarily very
meagre. To go into it in full would require far more space than can be
given. If fuller details are given with regard to the American Board
it is simply because that Board occupies the territory which is more
especially under notice at this time.
The question is frequently asked, What are the relations between the
missionaries and the Turkish Government? Repeatedly the statement is
made by that government that the influence of the missionaries is
antagonistic, disturbing, and that they are the enemies of the present
rule. This is in no sense true. American missionaries have invariably
ranked themselves on the side of law. They have taken the position that
the Turkish Government is the government of the land and its laws must
be obeyed. If those laws are oppressive they will do their best to
secure a change, but so long as the law is law it must be obeyed. In
all the various attempts to stir up revolutionary feelings among the
people, they have opposed with all their influence such movements. It
is undoubtedly the fact that the general result of their instruction by
stirring intellectual development, has been to make men restive under
oppression. Undoubtedly their preaching has created an intense desire
for true religious liberty. Undoubtedly they have brought light into
the empire, and light is always a disturbing element where there is
corruption; it creates fermentation, and such fermentation as is not
pleasant to oppressors. As has already been indicated, they have found
some of their most bitter opponents among the clergy of the Christian
Churches, even more bitter than the Turkish rulers themselves. But as
the better class of that clergy have come to recognize the value of
their instruction and their preaching, so the better class of Turkish
officials have realized that there are no more loyal subjects, no
more honest citizens than those who are under the guidance of the
American missionaries. Wherever their course has been objected to their
objectors have been men who sought to cover up their evil deeds and
hide from the world the story of their outrageous conduct.
Individually there is no question but that the missionaries represent
the very highest grade of ability and personal character. The record
of their achievements in literature, in research, in education, is not
surpassed by that of any other class of men or women in the world.
Ambassadors, and travelers of high character, who have come among them,
have uniformly borne testimony to their nobility, and the high position
that they deservedly hold in the world. Not infrequently the diplomatic
representatives of this country and England have come to their post at
Constantinople with the feeling that these missionaries were a set of
honest fanatics, well intentioned, but incapable of judging accurately
and wisely as to the work which they were to do. In not one single case
has any such man returned from his post, without putting on record his
high estimate of these men and women. Whether it be Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe, Lord Dufferin or Sir Philip Currie from England, Admiral
Porter, General Williams, E. Joy Morris, Gen. Lew. Wallace or Oscar
Straus, from America, their testimony has been one of unvarying praise
for the conduct of the mission work, and those who have had longest
experience have been slow to condemn, even where their judgment could
not coincide with that of the missionaries. Such remarks as have
been made by occasional travelers, who have seen only the outskirts
of mission work, to the effect that they are a “bad lot;” that they
are well meaning, but ignorant enthusiasts, have simply served to
rank those who uttered them with the class of people who talk about
what they know nothing of. The words of Sir Philip Currie, uttered in
private conversation in connection with the recent events in Turkey,
will stand as a perpetual refutal of any such charges. He said:
“The one bright spot in all the darkness that has covered Asiatic
Turkey, has been the heroism, the prudence and the common-sense of the
American missionaries.”
[Illustration:
CIRCASSIAN OFFICER IN THE SULTAN’S ARMY. After the defeat of Schamyl,
the famous Circassian leader, multitudes of his people came into
Turkey and spread over the whole of Asia Minor. They are powerful,
fearless men, and committed widespread depredations among the
villages. They are bolder than the Kurds and much braver; are all
bigoted Moslems.]
[Illustration:
SLAUGHTER OF ARMENIANS AT SASSUN. This is a fair illustration of the
slaughter of innocents that the bloody Kurds and infuriated soldiers
have visited upon the unarmed and unoffending Armenians, resulting
in the murder of some 50,000 or more, and through pillage and fire
rendering homeless and destitute hundreds of thousands.]